The present invention relates to an image detecting apparatus included in a digital recorder, for example, for detecting a target image from image information recorded on a recording medium, an image detecting method and an image detecting program applied to the image detecting apparatus.
Some existing digital recorders for home use include an edit function. When a digital recorder for home use including an edit function performs an editing operation, such as deleting an unnecessary scene or extracting only a necessary scene from a recorded television program, for example, the editing operation is performed by changing the digital recorder to an edit mode.
Specifically, a user of the digital recorder for home use first changes the digital recorder to the edit mode, and then reproduces the recorded television program to be edited. While checking the reproduced image, the user searches for an edit point of a target scene by operating a “reproducing key,” a “fast forward key,” a “fast reverse key,” a “stop key,” a “pause key,” and the like provided on a remote control of the digital recorder .
Then, a desired editing operation is performed by operating editing operation keys such as a “chapter division key,” a “start point specifying key,” an “end point specifying key,” a “deleting key,” an “extracting key,” and the like provided on the same remote control. Incidentally, when the user is to specify an edit point as accurately as possible, the user searches for a frame image considered most appropriate as the edit point by making full use of a “slow reproduction key” and a “frame advance key.”
Incidentally, by enabling operation of the editing operation keys used only at a time of editing, such as the “chapter division key,” the “start point specifying key,” the “end point specifying key,” the “deleting key,” the “extracting key,” and the like, after changing to the edit mode, erroneous operation of these editing operation keys can be prevented.
In editing recorded data as described above by the conventional digital recorder for home use having an edit function as described above, since the remote control receiving instruction inputs from the user is provided with many operating keys, the user may have to check the positions of the operating keys on the remote control at hand frequently.
Therefore, the user may miss a scene in which a target edit point is present while checking the positions of the operating keys on the remote control, or the user may erroneously operate the remote control while checking the reproduced image.
In addition, when searching for an edit point, the user cannot specify an image in a specifiable unit, for example, a frame unit. Therefore, a target edit point cannot be specified accurately and easily, so that trouble and time may be required before specifying the target edit point.
Furthermore, while editing operations on the recorded data are enabled after changing to the edit mode, as described above, some users may not know the operation for changing to the edit mode and thus take time before editing the recorded data.
Further, with the increase in capacity of recording media, the recording time during which moving images recordable on recording media are recorded is also increased. When setting an edit point in a program recorded for a long time, for example, it takes a considerable time to find the edit point by reproducing the program from the start. Even if the program is reproduced from the middle, a skipped portion may include a desired edit point, so that the appropriate edit point may not be detected. Thus, there is a desire for a means to enable a target scene to be detected quickly and accurately from image information having a long reproduction time reaching several hours.